Sears v. Bowen’s Empirical Analysis
840 F.2d 394 · 1988
Citation profile
13 federal appellate · 4 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 71 later decisions — most recently September 2020 · most notably Skinner v. Astrue (2007), Thompson v. Sullivan (1991)
13 federal appellate · 4 district ·
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 405 (§ 205 of the Social Security Act of 1935)
Relies on Richardson v. Perales · Consolidated Edison Co of New York v. National Labor Relations Board · Samuel C. EVANGELISTA, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant, Appellee · Bauzo v. Bowen · Booz v. Secretary of Health & Human Services
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 71 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“There is little doubt that Sears’ mental impairments are of long standing, even if they may not have been so severe as to render him disabled since 1980. Even if a timing problem exists, we conclude, under the admittedly unusual circumstances of this case, that the combination of long-standing psychiatric problems, which may alone be disabling, and important biological information about the claimant, none of which was before the Secretary, is material.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Tirado v. Bowen“... this appears to be a case where the ALJ relied too much on the fact that [the claimant] had an advocate acting on his behalf and failed to affirmatively develop a proper administrative record. As noted, the transcript is 29 pages long; the hearing lasted only 32 minutes.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“There is no dispute that the Secretary [through the ALJ] has a duty to fully and fairly develop the record, [and that] the goals of the Secretary and the advocates should be the same: that deserving claimants who apply for benefits receive justice.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Ransom v. Bowen
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.